"Once Upon A Time" Directed by JODI GILLUM

Plot
I would completely delete the beginning of the story where the narrator is thinking about how she doesn't want to write a children's story. I would start with the happy family which appear to lead the perfect life. After they are introduced, there would be a scene in which they hear someone screaming outside, and it was their neighbor who had just been stabbed. This would cause their desire for the highest security. I would keep the rest of the story the same for the most part, but illuminate how they neglect their son, while they are supposed to be thinking about his safety. This would show how they are the type of people who do things more for appearance than because they actually want to do it. I would make the grandma appear in the movie, instead of just hearing about her in the movie.

Point of View
I would keep it in the third person point of view, because I want the narration to be stated matter-of-factly. The audience would get their only understanding of them from their dialogue. I would have an omniscient narrator so that the audience would be able to see all of the characters separately. That way, we would be able to see things the son did when his parents weren't paying attention.

Characterization
I would cast Cameron Diaz as the mother, Brad Pitt as the father, Spencer List as the son, and Kirstie Allie as the grandmother. I put a lot of thought into my character choice. Diaz and Pitt would be the ideal family with their darling little son. Doris Roberts would be the witch grandmother with good intentions. They would all have similar attitudes as in the story, but we would be able to see them better because of their individual behaviors. The parents would constantly be worrying about their image, trying to be as up to date as possible. The grandmother would play the same overprotective and overbearing role as Ray's mother in everybody loves Raymond, but when it comes down to it, she is just trying to help. However, the son would show how he was upset by the way his parents neglected him, and would get really excited anytime they would pay attention to him. He would have a dog like in the story, and the dog would be his best friend.


Setting
I would set my film in Miami, because I want the weather to always be nice. They would live in a top scale suburban neighborhood where each house is competing with the next, but all of the neighbors put on nice faces and act like they liked each other. It would take place in the present day so that people can kind of relate.

Theme
The theme of this film would differ from the story. The theme of the story is about the walls we put up in our lives that can keep us isolated from the outside world. In my film, the theme would be that one should focus on the important things of life, instead of getting caught up in superficial things. There is a common theme that I could kind of see: one may miss out on things if they are too focused on one thing.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" MOVIE

Plot
The plot in the story and the movie hardly anything at all in common, except for the fact that he ages backwards in both. The only other comparison I can make is the fact that his father is disgusted by him in the beginning, but in the movie, unlike the story, the father puts him on the stairs of someone's house, which brings the whole new plotline into play. In the movie, the audience gets to know Benjamin better, because we see actual events take place that helped shape his life and make him the man (or baby?) that he turned out to be. Benjamin accepts the fact that he is different, but in the movie, he shows more alarm about what will happen to the people in his life as he grows younger. This difference makes Benjamin more personable; therefore, people can relate to him more. I think the way the movie expands the events in his life makes it more entertaining and enjoyable than the story.

Point of View
Unlike the story, most of the movie is told in first person point of view, although Caroline is reading it from his diary. Since Benjamin is telling the story, we are able to see how he feels during the different points in his life, which allows us to empathize with him. It seems as though he grows weaker with the age reversal, especially at the point where he is no longer able to tell his own story and Queenie has to take over. It shows how he becomes more dependent. I think it would have been quite interesting to hear his feelings as he was about and going through dimensia, because we just saw him get really upset and angry about forgetting things. His incompetence and vulnerability shine through at from this point forward, which make me, for one, feel bad for him. I guess that in "regular" growth, become become more feeble towards the end of their lives as well. I think that hearing the story in the first person point of view makes the story more relatable for people.

Characterization
Once again, there are four main characters, but they are not the same as the story, in exception to Benjamin, of course, and his father. In my opinion, the characters that play the most important roles in his life are Queenie and Daisy. Queenie is Benjamin's mother figure in the movie. Contradicting the story where Benjamin has only a father figure that we hear about, in the movie, we only hear about his mother figure. You can see Benjamin's love and obedience in his relationship with his mother. I think that his relationship with Daisy is the one that is most relatable for the audience. Just like every romantic relationship, theirs is difficult, but in a special way, because they are so far apart in age for the majority of their lives. They have a connection from the beginning, which captures the audience's attention, because it is so peculiar to see a young girl and an old man playing in a tent made up of sheets telling secrets. Benjamin's relationship with his father shows his forgiving side, because when his father reveals to him that he is actually his father, Benjamin surely has the right to be upset, but accepts this trespass made against him. I think the movie makes it easier for us to better understand the characters, just because of the length difference.

Setting
Once again, nothing is the same... about the setting this time. It is set in New Orleans, Louisiana several years after the story. The Civil War was a conflict in the story, while Benjamin is involved in WWII in the movie and the woman that raises him is a black woman. I think that the setting changed to New Orleans to make it more up to date and understandable for people. Also, New Orleans is a crazy place, where something strange like a baby born as an old man seems more likely than in Baltimore, Maryland. At the beginning of the movie, we are shown a clock that is built where the hands go backwards instead of forward like a regular clock. This clock symbolizes the life of Benjamin, and ironically breaks and is taken down right around the time when Benjamin dies.

Theme
The theme of the movie and the story are basically opposites: trying to fit in vs. accepting your differences. From the very beginning of the movie, Queenie knows that Benjamin is different and does not treat him differently than any other person. She raises him knowing that it is okay to be different, so Benjamin accepts it. There is a comparison in a different theme I could make though, nothing lasts forever. In both, the movie and the story, Benjamin is faced with the difficult struggle of realizing that he cannot keep many friends for long, because the age difference separates them. However, in the movie, he is able to stay close with Queenie until she dies, and Daisy until he dies.

"Popular Mechanics" Raymond Carver

The final sentence of the story says that "the issue was decided." Ironically, the issue that is the decided is who gets custody of the baby. In their selfish attempt of taking the baby for themselves, they both take equal part in killing the baby; therefore, nobody gets the baby. It reminds me of the story in the Bible where Solomon tells two women that are fighting over a baby, each saying that he is her own baby, to cut it in half and both take a half. The woman who was really the mother said that the other woman could just have the baby, because she didn't want it to be harmed, which Solomon knew would happen all along. Sadly, in this story, both of the parents were too concerned with their own desires to beat the other that they did not pay attention to the baby, and consequently killed it. It shows that they truly weren't concerned with the child and just wanted to have it so that the other couldn't.

"Your're Ugly, Too" Lorrie Moore

Zoe's many eccentricities cause people think she is strange, such as her students and men she dates. She doesn't seem to care what people think about her when she is doing these odd things, but then she often focuses on her lonelyness. I found it interesting that the only two men that she ever pays attention to were her postman and taxi driver. She tips them and talks to them in a friendly manner. I wonder if it is because she knows that these are just formal relationships and there isn't a chance that they will get together in her mind. I think that is a possiblity because she seems to get nervous when she is with possible candidates for a mate. For example, when she meets Earl, and they are chatting for the first time on the balcony, she imagines their whole life together, which ends in a custody battle for the kids. She makes up things about herself, which is also odd. She is obviously a cinic of love, which is what I think prevents her from falling in love. Her negativity is a great hinderance in her relationships with people in general.

"The Drunkard" Frank O'Connor

This story is ironic in different ways. The reversal of roles between the son and the father is ironic, because usually it is the father that is drunk and making a fool of himself and the son that has to walk him home. Instead, in this occurance, the son is drunk and yelling at the women on the street that are laughing at this amusing sight while the father is just trying to get him home. It is also ironic when the people tell the mother that the father got the son drunk to entertain himself, when really the son ruined his night. But I think the biggest irony of all is how the mother praises the son for getting drunk, because it distracted the father which made it impossible for him to get drunk himself. Usually a mother would scold her son or at least be concerned with the fact that her child got drunk, instead she says that he is his father's guardian angel and God sent him there. I thought it was strange that the biggest concern of the mother was that the father wouldn't go to work the next day so he wouldn't be making money that day when he was out getting drunk and acting foolish while she was at home.

"The Lottery" Shirley Jackson

In this story, we have a third person omniscient narrator. The story is told in the objective point of view where the narrator does not judge, interpret, or attatch any feelings toward events in the story. It is important to have this type of narration for "The Lottery," because the narrator represents the town and they way that they respond to this primitive ritual. They don't question it, but just accept it, because, frankly, that's the way it has always been. I find it odd that not one character seeks morality and tries to stop it, but if one did it would change the whole plot of the story. Back to my point, the narrator's dispassionate, matter-of-fact attitude can be seen throughout the entire story. It particularly stuck out to me when she said, "The children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles." First of all, it is sick and wrong that a young child, too young to even open up his own paper, is given pebbles to stone his own mother to death. Second of all, this displays the normality of the ritual and how even the children are involved.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Plot

The narrator tells us at the beginning of the story that he is going to tell us some "astonishing history," and that Mr. and Mrs. Roger Button are expecting a baby. That "baby," however, is not an infant, but an old man, which creates the conflict of the novel. This leads us into the rising action where everyone, including his father, is shocked and appauled by this strange occurance. There is further complication when Benjamin realizes at 12 years of age that he is getting younger. The climax of the novel is unclear, possibly when he meets and marries Hildegarde, when he serves time in the army, or the beginning of his time in college at Harvard. These are all times in his life where he is successful and people appreciate him. After he graduated, everything seemed to go downhill, which would be the resolution. He keeps getting younger and younger, which makes him more dependent on people. His son Roscoe considers him an embarrassing burden. Eventually, the story is concluded when he dies at about 70 years old where he would look like a newborn infant. No questions are really answered about how he dies, whether a woman becomes pregnant, he just disappears, or he dies in his body as a newborn.



Point of View

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is told in the first person point of view. The only real evidence of this is on the first page in the first and second paragraphs where he says, "At present, as so I am told, the high gods of medicine have decreed that the first cries of the young shall be uttered upon the anesthetic air of a hospital, preferably a fashionable one" and "I shall tell you what occurred, and let you judge for yourself." After these two instances, he never uses the first person pronoun of I, so one might assume that it was told in third person limited point of view. Since the narrator knows so much about Benjamin's life, one may infer that he was a friend of the family or something of that matter. However, throughout the story, he seems to keep his feelings out. He never really shows sympathy or disdain, but just tells the story. The narrator seems to be old and not up to date when he says things, such as "so I am told."



Characterization

There are only four main characters discussed in the short story: Benjamin, Roger, and Roscoe. Their roles and personalities shift throughout the story. At the beginning of the story Roger, Benjamin's father, is appauled and embarrassed that his son was born as a 70 year old man. He does everything in his power to make him "normal" or at least camaflouge as best as possible. However, when Benjamin gets older in actual age, but younger in body, his father starts to get along with him and actually enjoy his company. He takes Benjamin with him to social outings where he seems to be proud of his son. At one of these social events, Benjamin meets his future wife, Hildegarde. At the very beginning of their relationship, he is smitten by her, but eventually loses his love for her as she becomes older and more lackluster, and he gets younger and more popular. Hildegarde is one of the minor characters in the story, because not much is told about her. They do, however, have a son together when they were happily married at the beginning. Roscoe is born as a "normal" child, but not much is said about him when he was younger. In the end when Benjamin is in the body of a young child, Roscoe considers him a burden and is mad at him for not acting his age when he has to take care of him. At the beginning of the short story, Benjamin seems content and tries to please his father. As he gets younger, he gets more arrogant and haughty. But as he heads into adolescence, he becomes innocent.



Setting

The story takes place in Baltimore, Maryland from 1860-1930. Therefore, Benjammin was born at the during the Civil War. Although nothing is really mentioned about it, the world is drastically changing just as Benjamin is. On the other hand, the fact that the story takes place in Baltimore is important, because social status is crucial there. It is said that the Button's "held an enviable position, both social and financial in ante-bellum Baltimore." This explains why Roger was so disgraced by the birth of his son as a 70 year old man, because he had a reputation to uphold, and he didn't want this strange occurance to blemish it.



Theme
The main theme of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is isolation and trying to fit in. Throughout the story, Benjamin engages in many group activites that pertain to his age at the time. He joins the army, plays on the football team, and goes to dances. All of these things require interaction with people of the same age group. It seems as though he insists in partaking in these activities to try to fit in, but eventually it singles him out even more. As he grows younger, he is unable to participate in these endeavers, which isolates him. The fact that he is aging backwards makes it impossible to make true friends that he can keep throughout his life. Relationships are crucial in life, and he doesn't even have a healthy relationship with his own son. This fact of the story is quite sad.

"Miss Brill" Katherine Mansfield

At the beginning of the story, Miss Brill thinks about how she is glad that she had gotten out her fur. She touches it admiringly as if she is proud to be wearing it. I think it makes her feel beautiful, and she wants other to view her "character" as this beautiful woman. All of these hopes are shot when she is purposely overhearing a young couples conversation about her. The boy refer to her as "that stupid old thing," and asks why she doesn't keep her "silly old mug at home." No doubt, that was hard for her to hear, but it gets worse. The girl comments on her fu-fur, saying that it is "exactly like a fried whiting." I didn't know what that meant, so I looked it up and it said that it was a type of fried fish. One can only imagine her dissappointment. Upon hearing this news, she heads home and regrets to get her piece of pie that she gets every Sunday, because she is so upset. When she gets home, she takes it off and puts it back in the box that she had got it in and thinks she hears it crying. This crying illustrates how upset she is by the girls comment. It is as if the fur piece is saddened by her newfound embarrassment to wear it now.

"Once Upon a Time" Nadine Gordimer

In "Once Upon a Time," the narrator is told that she must write a children's novel, because every author "ought to write at least one story for children." The narrator does not want to do this, but does so anyway, which explains the reason for the satirical tone of the story she writes. The story starts by explaining how there was a wife and a husband that loved each other very much, and they had a son that they loved very much, and he had a dog and cat that he loved very much, and they all lived happily ever after. This is her way of incorporating aspects of a children's story to her piece. Then she begins telling her story of how this family is afraid of burglars so they keep increasing the security on their house, adding in little parts about the family, such as when the mother reads her son a bedtime story from a book that his grandmother had bought for him. Ironically, in the bedtime story, the brave prince had jumped over a thicket of thorns to save his princess, and in trying to imitate the prince, the boy trys to jump over the wall they had just covered with razor blade coils in their latest attempt to keep burglars away. When the little boy does this, he is caught by the blades and dies.

"A Worn Path" Eudora Welty

The minor characters in "A Worn Path" play an important role in characterizing Phoenix Jackson. Her first encounter is with a young, white hunter. He helps her up and advises her to head home. Upon her refusal, he makes a racist comment about how old colored people would never miss the chance to see Santa Claus and lets her go. Next, she asks a lady on the street to lace and tie her shoes for her. The lady seems a little annoyed by her, but obeys her request. Finally, she gets to the doctor's office and the attendent asks her why she is there and for her information. Phoenix doesn't reply, and the attendent gets angry, asking, "Are you deaf?" Then a nurse comes out and recognizes Phoenix. She calmly tells the attendent that she is there to pick up medication for her sick grandson. But when the nurse asks about her grandson and she doesn't reply, the nurse tells her that she must not waste their time. Phoenix claims that her memory had escaped her, but reassures that she won't forget again when the nurse seems nervous. Still, the nurse gives Phoenix the medication. I think that all of the characters are somewhat irked by her, but let her go on with her life as long as she is capable of doing so, and they are willing to help her out if she needs it.

"Eveline" James Joyce

Eveline leads a busy, work-filled life where she is always taking care of something, and then a sailor comes along and offers to take her away with him. This is her chance to escape, and she has many reasons to accept this offer. Throughout the entirety of her life, her father has been an abusive figure that always has something negativc to say. Her mother died when she was younger; therefore, she is left with the responsibility to take care of the house and family when she gets home from her day job. She works at the Stores with a boss that is never happy and always nagging. When contemplating whether she should stay or go, she begins thinking about the night that her mother passed. Her mother repeated the the phrase, "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" In Gaelic, this phrase is translated to either "the end of pleasure is pain" or "the end of the song is raving madness." Either way, this vision haunted her and pushed her to want to leave even more. All of these present circumstances make it desirable for her to leave home.

"Hunters in the Snow" Tobias Wolff 2

I thought that these three men: Kenny, Frank, and Tub are a quite peculiar group of friends. At first, Kenny and Frank seem to have an alliance and gang up to make fun of Tub. At this point, I felt bad for Tub, because I thought that he was being betrayed by his friends. Then later when Tub shoots Kenny, Frank told him he would have done the same thing. I think that this shows that Frank felt obliged to agree with Kenny, because he knew his secret of being in love with the babysitter and did not want him to tell anyone, which gave me the sense that Kenny is not a trustworthy person. While on the way to the hospital, Frank and Tub stop at a bar, then a tavern and just left their bullet wounded friend in the bed of the truck to suffer and slowly but surely die. I found this particularly odd, because I would never do that to anyone I know, let alone, one of my good friends. Then when Tub declares that he lost they directions, they shrug it off because they think they remember, but they are not sure. This further exemplifies my thought that they are terrible friends. Then after they leave the tavern, they take the blankets from Kenny, because he is unable to hold them on top of himself under his conditions, because they are cold. They sicken me. Finally the last paragraph repeats how Frank keeps telling Kenny to say that he is "going to the hospital," but really he is not, because they took a different turn a long way back. This makes me wonder if they consciously took the wrong turn or if it was an accident. Either way it could have been avoided if they had gone back to get the directions or hadn't have stopped in the first place. They are awful friends.

"Hunters in the Snow" Tobias Wolff

Tub may be considered a stock character on the surface: a cartoon-like obese man who is the butt of other people's jokes, but details throughout the story help make Tub into a fully realized individual. First of all, I think that we start to see part of Tub's character when he is upset by his friends' jokes about his weight. Usually the stock character just takes the insults, but Tub gets mad and tells them to stop. Then, I would have never guessed that Tub would shoot Kenny when he has the fear that Kenny was going to shoot him. I would think that he would be too afraid to actually shoot his friend. This shows that he is a round character with feelings and emotions, because I think that he only shot Kenny out of fear. Later, we see Tub having a moment with Frank and finally admitting that he doesn't have a gland problem, but just likes to eat. I saw this as a resolution to Tub's problems; he just needed to be honest and have someone to trust and talk to. We also see Tub's compassion when he accepts Frank's secret of being in love with the town babysitter. Tub is actually a complex, round character when we pay attention to the details of the story.

"Everyday Use" Alice Walker

I think that the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change in character. She had been dealing with Dee's difficulties since she was young, and finally she just exploded. Dee used to be embarrassed of her heritage and wanted nothing to do with it, but when she found this new man, Asalamalakim, she changed her mind, not only her mind, but her name as well: Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. When Dee was younger she hated their old house, and I got the feeling that she caused the fire to burn it down when it says that she just stood by the tree and watched, while the mother thought she might as well dance around the ashes. Now she is taking pictures, making sure that the house is in every picture. I don't think that Dee has truly changed, but is putting on a show for Asamalakim so that he will like her. And I think that the mother knows this. When Dee rhetorically asks if she can have the churn top and the dasher, she is just trying to impress her man, and her mother doesn't appreciate it, but she lets her have it, because she really doesn't have a choice. Then "Wangero" asks if she can have the quilts, and her mother snatches them out of her hand and gives them to Maggie, her daughter that has always been down to earth and deserved the quilts in her opinion. I think that this was the break-through point for the mother. She was finally asserting her independence from her daughter's every want and desire.

"Bartleby the Scrivener" Herman Melville

At the beginning of the "short" story, the narrator is glad to have a new copyist, which he considers to be, in contrast to Turkey and Nippers, calm. He is stunned when he first asks Bartleby to help him and is replied to with the answer, "I would prefer not to." He doesn't know what to do, but decides that he must finish his work and think about it at another time. On multiple occasions, when the narrator asks Bartleby to help he gets the same response, "I would prefer not to." In a state of outrage and uncertainty, he asks his other employees what they think of that response, and, at different times, Turkey and Nippers both get angry and say that Bartleby needs to leave or offer to beat him up. The narrator is very confused and intrigued by Bartleby's behavior, but does nothing about it. He just allows him to constantly reject his requests and get away with it. Eventually, Bartleby refuses to even copy anymore and just occupies the building at all times. He makes it his home, the place where he sleeps. Even under these conditions, the only thing the narrator does is ask him to leave, and when he "prefer(s) not to" he just lets him live there. I think that for some reason the narrator feels some sort of loyalty and duty towards Bartleby. He feels bad for him, because he has no family or friends that he has ever mentioned and must be lonely. When Bartleby still doesn't leave after given his 6-day notice, the narrator's only reasonable solution is to move his business and leave Bartleby there. The narrator is curious about Bartleby's whereabouts after the move, until one day when the new occupant of the building comes to complain about how Bartleby still won't leave. Once again, the narrator takes it upon himself to try to convince him to leave, even offering him the opportunity to live with him until they find other means of living space. Bartleby refuses as before, and eventually, the new occupants call the police and have him removed. In this case, the narrator goes to the jail to see him where Bartleby accuses him of being the reason that he was taken there. Still, the narrator is not mad at Bartleby, but wants to help him. He goes back to the jail for the second time and finds him dead. I think that the narrator thought of Bartleby as a responsibility of his. He kept mentioning the bible and the commandments, which indicates that he is a religious man. He thought it was his duty to help Bartleby once he became involved in his live, because he had no one else.

"A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner 2

I think that using the first person plural narrator was effective, because it allowed us to get the collected thoughts of many townspeople. If it was just one person, we probably would not recieve as much detail. I feel like the narrator is the gossiping women of the town. It reminds me of the room mom's in grade school that knew everything about everyone else's lives. Another attribute we received from the first person plural narrative is suspense. If it was told in first person, we would know what she was thinking and exactly when she did the things she did. I actually think that would be an extremely interesting/creepy piece to read. Another interesting point of view to read this story from would be from the first person perspective of the "Negro." I am assuming that he knew what Emily did, but we never actually get knowledge of whether he did or not. It said that he never talked to anyone, so it would be intriguing to get to look inside of his mind, because there must be so many thoughts running through it.

"A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner

I actually did anticipate the end of story, because there were clues throughout the story that helped me foreshadow this event. When Emily's father died, she denied his death, and only broke down and let people from town take his body when they were about to resort to law. This gives us the idea that she is not accepting of death, or maybe she just doesn't care if someone dies; she just thinks that everything should continue as normal. Then one day, Homer Barron just leaves without a word to anyone. This caused me to suspect that he really didn't leave, and then when she goes and buys arsenic, it led me to believe that she killed him. Another thing that led me to this conclusion is when on page 287, it says "...Homer himself had remarked -- he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk's Club -- that he was not a marrying man." Even with this obvious knowledge, she bought "a man's toilet in silver, with the letters H. B. on the piece... [and] a complete outfit of men's clothing." This meant that she was not going to let his homosexuality stop her from marrying him. Taking all of this into account, I was not surprised when I read the ending of the story, still creeped out, but not surprised.

"Interpreter of Maladies" Jhumpa Lahiri

I believe there is great significance in Mrs. Das asking for Mr. Kapasi's address, then later losing it. It represents the relationship between the two characters. At the beginning of the story Mrs. Das shows interest in Mr. Kapasi's job as an interpreter for a doctor in his town, which causes Mr. Kapasi to feel important. This feeling of importance made him feel appreciated, and he never felt appreciated by his wife. Later that day, Mrs. Das asked him for his address, and he was worried that he had written it down wrong and he would never recieve the picture she had promised him. He began imagining them as sort of pen pals that would discuss their lives through letters. This idea pleased him, until later that evening when she told him her secret of one of her children not being her husband's. I feel that this idea sickened him, because, earlier that day, he was loving the attention that she had been giving him. It made him feel that his infatuation was a sin, and he could have been the father of another child that Mr. Das thought was his own. So when the address flew out of her purse that night, he was not upset by it at all. In a way, I think he was relieved, which suggests the resolution that one should not covet the lives of others, but accept their own.

"How I Met My Husband" Alice Munro

When looking at Chris Watters as a potential husband for Edie, I feel that he would never satisfy her needs. He's not ready to settle down; he's always on the move. I got the sense that there were many more Alice Kelling's around the world that thought they were one day going to marry Chris. He seems like the "player" type that makes empty promises that he knows he'll never keep, but the girls always believe him. Edie and Chris had only met on two separate occasions and had one "intimate" night (in her mind). There is no way that she could have real feelings of love for him; it had to be infatuation if anything. Even though it seemed to me that she was settling with the mailman, he was a much better candidate for a husband than Chris would ever be. From the very little information we got about him, I got the feeling that he really cared about her and thought that she was amazing, which is how all men should feel about their women.

"Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead" Andrew Hudgins

First of all, I looked up elegy to see if it meant the same thing as eulogy; it doesn't. According to dictionary.com, the definition of elegy is a mournful, melancholy, or plaintive poem, esp. a funeral song or lament for the dead. So really the speaker is following the definition of a melancholy poem, even though his father is not dead. This poem is about a man who cannot handle the fact that his father is about to die and is accepting of that fact. He says that he thinks his father "wants to go,/ a little bit - a new desire/ to travel." I thought that was an interesting way for his father to think about it, "embarking on a trip." He says that he cannot look at it that way. Obviously he has talked to his father about this, because in lines 10-12, he says "He thinks he'll wrap me in his arms and laugh,/ the way he did when I arrived/ on earth." I think that is a neat way to think about that as well. Heaven is where one is created and where one ends up after he/she dies. The speaker does not feel the same; he follows that statement by simply saying "I do not." I think that the speaker is just afraid to face life without his father on earth.

"Delight in Disorder" Robert Herrick

This poem is about a man who likes for his woman to be disorganized. I think it is attractive, and, for lack of better words, he gets turned on when a girl looks messy. Throughout the poem, the speaker says things like "a lawn about the shoulders thrown," "an erring lace,"a neglected cuff," "ribbons... flow[ing] confusedly," "tempestuous petticoat," and "a careless shoestring." These words give the image of a disheveled woman. In the 12th line, he uses the oxymoron of a "wild civilty," which I took as an elegant woman with a wild side. He follows this line saying "Do more bewich me than when art is too precise in every part. When I think of art that is not precise, I think of Van Gogh and his somewhat swirly paintings. He is saying that he would rather have an unorganized girl with a great personality, than a proper stickler. The varying sentence structure of long and short sentences may be representing the disorganization of the woman.

"Edward" Anonymous

I believe this poem is about a man who killed his father, because his mother wanted him to. In the first stanza his mother asks him why his sword is bloody, and he says it is because he killed his hawk "so good,/ and I had no more but he." This may be referring to how he killed his only father. Then his mother says that his hawk's blood isn't that red, so he tells her that he killed his red-roan steer "that was once so fair and free." This may be referring to the way he felt about his father, that he was fair and free. She responds by saying that the steer was old and he has more, then asks what is his "other grief." He finally says that he killed his father. She acts surprisingly calm and asks him questions, such as what penance he will do, what will he do with his towers and hall, and what he will leave his children and wife. Edward answers these questions saying that he is going to leave on a boat, let them stand until they fall, and let his family beg through life. Finally, she asks what he will leave for she, his mother, and he says "the curse from hell," because of the counsels she gave him. That last stanza is what brought me to truly believe that she was the one who told him to kill her father, because he is saying that she will be the one that pays for it. Her nonchalant attitude after he told he also backs up my theory.

"Lonely Hearts" Wendy Cope

"Lonely Hearts" is a variety of different newspaper singles advertisements. I found it interesting that in the second stanza it is advertising a gay person, the third stanza is about a bisexual person, and the fourth is about a straight stanza. One is a gay vegetarian who is into music and Shakespeare, another is looking for a bisexual woman who is young and arty, and then there is a straight, successful solvent looking for an attractive Jewish woman with a son. I guess she was just trying to cover all sexualities. This poem is in the form of a villanelle, because it is an easy way to display the separate ads. Every different person has the same desire to "make my simple wish come true." The simple wish is to find companionship that meets their different interests. I wondered why she used North London for the place that every person lives, so I looked her up on wikipedia, and it said that she is from Kent, a county in England.

"Crossing the Bar" Alfred, Lord Tennyson

This poem is about a man who is extremely accepting of death. He knows it's going to happen, so he somewhat embraces it. In the first stanza, he says "may there be no moaning of the bar/ When I put out to sea." I took this as the speaker not wanting people to mourn his death, because he feels like it is his time to go. In the second stanza, the last line says, "that which drew from out the boundless deep/ Turns again home." This is showing that he is dying and going to heaven with God, because it speaks of returning back home. God created us in heaven, and that is where he plans to go when he dies. Again in the third stanza, the speaker says, "may there be no sadness of farewell/ When I embark," further proving the point that he does not want people to be sad about his death. Then finally in the last stanza, he says, "I hope to see my Pilot face to face/ When I have crossed the bar." In this sentence, the "Pilot" is God; He even capitalizes the "P" in the word. I would say the tone of this poem is accepting.

"The Apparition" John Donne

So first of all I looked up apparition, and the dictionary.com definition is a supernatural appearance of a person or thing, esp. a ghost. The speaker is upset by the way that this woman has treated him in the past. It seems as though she has dumped him, and he is obviously not taking it well. He has died now and is now threatening to haunt this woman. I want to know how he died. There is not much evidence, but maybe he killed himself, because he couldn't take the heart ache. The last stanza is the creepiest, in my opinion. He says that he "will not tell thee now,/ Lest that preserve thee." In those lines, he is saying that he is not going to tell her when he is coming or what he is going to do. He wants to leave her in the dark, so that she has no way of preparing for it. The tone of this poem is quite vengeful. He wants to get back at her for breaking his heart.

"Getting Out" Cleopatra Mathis

For me, this poem is relatable, because I feel like it is talking about two people that care about each other a lot and want things to work out, but they just never do. I have been in a relationship like that, and it's terrible. The first line speaks of "waking like inmates," which makes one wonder whether the speaker is referring to inmates in a jail or inmates in a mental hospital. But the next line says, "who beat the walls." This sort of clears it up somewhat, because when I think of someone beating on the walls, I think more of a mental institution than a jail. Throughout the poem, she speaks of how the two are somewhat trapped in this relationship. The second stanza tells of how the husband "tried to pack up and go," but by using the word try it shows that this person was unable to successfully leave. I think this shows that they were both in it, and he couldn't make himself leave. Finally in the the last stanza, she speaks of the "last unshredded pictures/ of our matching eyes and hair." I always think that when couples are together for a long time, they begin to look alike, and that's what I thought of, but talking in class, you said that it could symbolize immaturity. I don't really know what to think about that. Beside from that, she says that she is still startled when she sees men who look like him and that he writes her every year still, so obviously they're still holding on. The very end talks about the day in court where they finally got divorced. It says that the lawyer was shocked when they cried, and they held hands tightly until their arms couldn't stretch any further, then let go. This gives the poem a regretful tone. You can see the apparent love between them. It's really a sad poem.

"My mistress' eyes" William Shakespeare

When I first read this poem, I thought that the man was calling his "mistress" ugly. He says that her eyes are nothing like the sun, and her lips aren't as red as coral, and that her hair is black wires. None of this is appealing. He goes on to talk about her cheeks, her breath, and her voice and how they don't compare to other things. Then I realized that this is satirical, and he is making fun of all the men who say the sun can't shine as bright as their lover's eyes and things like that. He's being realistic more than anything. He doesn't want to lie to his woman and say things that aren't true, when he can compliment her in other ways. In lines 13-14 he says, "I think my love as rare/ As any she belied with false compare." In a way I kind of took this poem as the speaker giving his mistress a backhanded compliment, but we talked about it in class, and decided it's a forehanded comliment, because he points out these things that seem wrong, but then fixes it by saying she is just as rare, or beautiful, as those other women.

"APO 96225" Larry Rottman

In my mind, this poem was written by one of the soldiers in "The Things They Carried." It just reminds me of exactly the situation they were in. Ironically, the questions after the poem in the book verify that the title of this poem is a mailing address of the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. In the first stanza he leaves out all details from the war and just says "Dear Mom, sure rains a lot here." When his mother responds, she asks what it's really like, and, yet again, he avoids the truth. That cycle repeats once again. Then he finally tells her " Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children." After this letter, his father writes him back and asks him not to tell his mother such depressing things. So he goes back to where he started, "Dear Mom, sure rains a lot." I love the way this poem ends. It is a great expression of the ignorance of everyone at home during war. All the people pretend to be so concerned, but when they hear the truth, they wish they hadn't.

"Batter my heart, three-personed God" John Donne

I took this poem as a the speaker asking God in the form of the Trinity to save him from temptation and sin. In lines 2 and 4, he lists verbs and then a final action. In line two he says "knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend." Then in line 4 he says "break, blow, burn, and make me new." I think these two lines are parallel to one another where the first is associated with God, the second verb is associated with the Holy Spirit, the third verb is associated with Jesus, and the final action is the outcome of what happens after They all do Their work. It is as if he wants God to break him down before he can build him up again. He hit rock bottom and needs an intervention from the Lord. Lines 12-14 say "Take me to you, imprison me, for I,/ Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,/ Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me." This statement seems almost contradicting, but he means that God mus completely take him over in order for him to be saved from the devil.

"next to of course god america i" e.e. cummings

The whole poem, minus the last line, is the speaker vocalizing a long string of thoughts in a speech. The last line, "He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water," emphasizes my point of it being a speech, because after public speakers get finished talking they usually take a drink of water. The lack of punctuation indicates the speed and disorganization. There are many references to patriotic songs, such as "America, the Beautiful" and the "Star Spangled Banner." Then he uses cliches, such as "by jingo by gee by gosh by golly," which makes me think that either the speaker is old or he has an old audience. When I put all of these things together, I realized the speaker is a politician. This poem is satirizing political figures saying that they don't really know what they're saying, they just sort of ramble on. Line 13, speaking of the soldiers, says "shall the voice of liberty be mute?" In this line, he is trying to tell his audience to be loud and proud like he is, even though he has no idea what it's like in war, further asserting his ignorance.

"Much Madness is divinest Sense" Emily Dickinson

This poem is sort of confusing. The speaker uses juxtaposition in lines 1 and 3, saying that madness is sense in line 1, and sense in madness in line 3. In the speaker's opinion madness is a good thing, because madness is judged by the "discerning eye." In other words, having sense and being "normal" is just conforming to society. She says if you "Assent," or agree, then you are sane. If you "Demur," or take exception to, then you are mad. If one is mad, this person will be "handled with a chain," which means punished, imprisoned, looked down upon, etc. Great people in our history have been considered mad and achieved great accomplishments, such as Jesus and Galileo. I think Emily Dickinson is one of those people who tries to be abnormaly weird on purpose, just so she is not like others, and I feel like this poem shows it well.

"February" Margaret Atwood

So when I first read this poem, I was totally lost. Once we discussed it in class, I got a much better understanding. She starts of the poem by saying, "Winter. Time to eat fat and watch hockey." First of all, how much more masculine can you get? Then she starts going on about her cat. She talks about how it tries to get on her head to see if she's alive. She says, "If I'm not, he wants to be scratched; if I am he'll think of something." This line refers to how cats seek attention, but if one does not give it to them, then they will find something else, such as rubbing against the couch. Then she starts linking cat behavior to human behavior. She says, "It's all about sex and territory," and says that we should "snip a few testicles," like people do with cats, if we are wise. This gives the reader a negative outlook on men from the speaker's standpoint. At first, I thought it might be a feminist thing, but after reanalyzing everything, I realized that she is just sad that she doesn't have a lover. The title of the poem is "February;" what is the first thing that pops into your mind when you think February? VALENTINE'S DAY! She is upset because she has no one to celebrate with. Most people can relate to this at one time or another. At the end of the poem she begins directly talking to the cat, which makes this an apostrophe. She says "Cat, enough of your greedy whining and your small pink bumhole... get going with a little otimism around here. Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring." This is actually a call to herself to get up and do something! Nothing is going to change if she just sits around and waits. She needs to overcome this internal conflict and help herself.

"Dream Deferred" Langston Hughes

The author of this poem, Langston Hughes, is a poet of the Harlem renaissance. His African American background and the time in which he wrote this poem may suggest that this dream had something to do with the obstacles he faced because of his race. He starts the poem out with a question: "What happens to a dream deferred?" Then he goes on to explain different outcomes, personifying the dream, which makes this an apostrophe as well. He says it could "dry up like a raisin" and possibilites will dwindle. It could "fester like a sore," where anger just keeps building and building. It could "stink like rotten meat" and linger on forever. It could "crust and sugar over" while people sugar coat it. It may just "sag like a heavy load" and weigh everyone down. OR it could explode! He italicizes the last line: "Or does it explode?" I took that as everyone getting fed up and starting a riot that would spread. I think he made this option stand out, because that's what he thought would happen if nobody took action. This dream could symbolize Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream..." speech.

"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" John Donne

After reading the poem once, I looked up the word valediction, because I didn't know what it meant. The definition, according to dictionary.com, is: the act of bidding farewell or taking leave. Understanding the title made the poem make much more sense. I read it multiple times and recieved the speaker as someone who has lost their soul mate. He says "no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move," which brings me to believe that he does not want to be depressed by it. When he says "Men reckon what it did and meant," I think he is thinking about what their love meant now that she is gone. He says that their love cannot "admit absence," which I took as their love is so strong that they have grown together as one. That thought is reassured when he says "Our two souls... which are one." He speaks of how he is going to miss her eyes, hands, and lips. In the second to last stanza, I believe he is talking about their two souls, and as her soul leaves, his will still depend on hers. Then in the last stanza, I feel like he is saying that he cannot go on without her. "[W]ho must/ Like th' other foot; obliquely run." Oblique can mean more than one thing; it can mean to be morally, ethically, or mentally wrong OR indirectly aimed at or reached, as ends or results; deviously achieved. Either way, I interpret it as him wanting to die too.

"Pink Dog" Elizabeth Bishop

This poem sort of confused me. I think that there is an interesting rhyme scheme, or lack there of. In the first three stanzas, the last words of each the three lines in the stanza rhyme. Then there is more random rhyiming. In stanza six, the last words in the last two lines rhyme. In stanza seven the last words in the first two lines of the stanza rhyme. There seems to be no more rhyming; this just sort of struck me. Is there a reason why? Aside from that, the speaker's tone for the dog changes throughout the stanza. At first, when speaking about the dog, the speaker just talks about the dog's appearance, "naked and pink." Then the speaker starts talking directly to the dog, making this an apostrophe as well. He says, "You are not mad; you have a case of scabies but look intelligent." I cannot tell why the speaker said that the dog looks intelligent. Then she goes on about it's appearance, "hanging teats" after giving birth. The speaker tells of what "they" do with beggars: "throw them in the tidal river," then asks what they would do to a "sick, four-legged dog," saying the dog couldn't last in the river. In order to take care of this problem, the speaker says to dress up for the Carnival. I think this poem is putting down the people in Rio de Janeiro, saying that a dog is equal to or better than the people.

"Bright Star" John Keats

This is a poem of direct address, because the speaker is talking to the star; therefore, it is an apostrophe. He speaks of the things he likes and dislikes about the star. He likes how "steadfast" and permanent the star is. He also likes how the star can see all, but at the same time he does not like how it is so lonely. By saying these things, he is saying that he wants to be unchangable, but he does not want to be alone. He wants to just lie there with his lover "pillowed upon... [her] ripening breast" forever. If that is not possible, he would like to be "swooned to death," which does not sound like a bad death. It reminds me of the question,"Would you rather have loved and lost or never love at all. His answer would definitely be loved and lost. I think "Forever" by Ben Harper captures his feelings quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o96r6qr9CEw

"Those Winter Sundays" Robert Hayden

Most people interpret this poem as a boy who is afraid of his father, because of a rough life at home, but I got a completely different idea when I read it. I took it from a religious standpoint. Sunday is a holy day of obligation for Christians. I received the father as God, because God is our Father. The first stanza tells of all this work that the father does for everyone, but then says, "No one ever thanked him." I took that as His people being ungrateful for the many gifts he gives us. Stanza two tells of the fear the boy has of his father and "the chronic angers of that house," which I saw as hell. When Hayden says, "speaking indifferently to him," I thought that was referring to prayer when people never thank God for the many blessings he bestows upon us, yet, instead, we ask for things. It may be a stretch, but I am pretty sure that nothing is contradicting my theory. I did a little research on Robert Hayden, and he was raised a Baptist, which is a Christian denomination, but later converted to Baha'i faith when he married his wife. Baha'i faith is a monotheistic religion emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind (wikipedia).

"After Apple-Picking" Robert Frost

I think that apple-picking represents life, and after life is death; therefore, I think that this poem is an extended metaphor for looking back at one's life after death. I think that climbing the ladder represents time in purgatory while God looks over one's life and decides whether this person should go to heaven or hell. The "two or three apples... [he] didn't pick" are experiences he never had. Frost says in line 6 that he is done with apple-picking now, which means he has passed away. I think in saying "The scent of apples: I am drowsing off" is saying that he is losing his memory. But this man is old in age, because he said that he is "well upon... [his] way to sleep before it fell." I believe that the "magnified apples appear[ing] and disappear[ing]" are different scenes from his life flashing before his life. I think Frost describing his foot aching and the pressure of the latter further exemplifies my theory of purgatory, because he has to wait for God's decision. The "ten thousand thousand fruit to touch" are the many opportunites of life. When he says to cherish every apple, even if it's bruised, he is saying to learn from one's own mistakes. Finally, I think that he compares this sleep to the sleep of a woodchuck, hibernation, because it is an extended amount time that he is sleeping. This could also be time in purgatory.

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" Emily Dickinson

This poem can be interpreted in different ways, but I think that it is extended metaphor of someone that is going insane. Dickinson uses the sense of sound throughout the work to give the impression of being inside a coffin during a funeral; I think that she is actually trapped inside her own mind with all of these thoughts running through it. The "mourners to and fro" would be the people in her life, but doesn't communicate with because they don't understand. They "kept treading" and going on with their lives while she couldn't. In the second stanza she refers to the beating of a drum, which could be the consistent pains that she has and cannot control. She comes out and says "My mind is going numb" in line 12. She hears "Boots of Lead" lift "a box," her coffin, and "creak" across her soul in stanza 3, further exemplifying the use of sound. Still in stanza four, she refers to the Heavens as a bell. She says she is in "some strange race" with silence. I think this is her trying to fight the thoughts inside her head. "And then a Plank in Reason, broke," AKA she loses the fight and snaps falling into the insanity.

"The Widow's Lament in Springtime" William Carlos Williams

I feel like many people can relate to this poem, because the central theme is sorrow being so overbearing that one can't focus on anything else. Even if one hasn't lost a loved one, most everyone has had a time where he/she is overtaken by anguish. It seems as though she cannot find happiness in anything because everything reminds her of deceased husband when she says "sorrow in my own yard" and "though they (flowers) were my joy formerly, today I notice them and turned away forgetting." It's almost heart breaking. I, for one, can understand where she is coming from to a certain extent. I have been lost in heartache to the point where I couldn't sleep and when I was alone I thought of nothing else. It's a terrible feeling. I think Williams gets this feeling across well with his tone. He even says "I feel that I would like to go there" after her son tells her about the place in the meadow. It is as if she cannot even force herself to do anything, but mourn his death. I have never been to this point of depression by any means, but one can almost feel the pain.

I think that this poem is an easy read; I like the format. Williams uses juxtaposition when describing how the widow wants to "fall into those flowers and sink into the marsh near them." The flowers give a sense of happiness, while the marsh has a negative connotation. I interpreted this as the widow wanting to die to be with her husband, which would be bitter sweet indeed.

"Spring" Gerard Manley Hopkins

While reading "Spring," I began interpreting that this poem was about pregnancy. I may be completely off, but I tried making everything match up so that nothing was contradicting my theory, as Perrine said to do in his essay. It is common for people to say that pregnancy is beautiful-"Nothing so beautiful." "Thrush's eggs" refer to the fertilized egg. The "rinse and ring" could refer to a woman's cycle. In saying the "peartree leaves and blooms" could mean the baby is growing. I interpreted line 11, "In Eden garden. --Have get, before it cloy," as the innocence of the mother in father before they conceive the child. The "cloud" and "sour sinning" could be the man and woman getting lost in the meaning or the hardships of the pregnancy, such as morning sickness, mood swings, and whatnot. I thought that line 13, "Innocent mind and Mayday boy and girl," was ironic, because the boy and girl are now having their own innocent child. Then line 14 talks about the "choice and worthy winning" of the "maid's child," which I interpretted as the baby being born, and the parents being pleased with their decision to have the child. Like I said, that may be all wrong. Just throwing it out there!

Perrine Poetry

I believe that Perrine has an interesting approach to determining "correct" interpretations of poetry, but I believe that it is his opinion. Although he makes valid points, I do not fully agree with him. He thinks that there are certain poems that have only one exact meaning, but others that can be interpreted in different ways as long as the meaning is similar. How are we supposed to know which one is which? On the other hand, the idea that no can explain the meaning of their own poem struck me, because it makes great sense. Perrine said it was like "admitting failure." I can agree with that, because the poet is supposed to have created this image for us to interpret, and if he/she has to explain, the different assimilations of readers are ruined. For me, it has been a long time since I have dealt with poetry. This article makes me realize that interpreting a work is much more particular than I remembered. I will try to make my analysis fit every detail of the poem as best as I can. This article makes me feel dumb, because I feel like I would never think of those things on my own sometimes.

The idea that "if it is contradicted by any detail it is wrong" somewhat confuses me. I feel like there are ways in which anyone can say that you are contradicting yourself, but to you it makes perfect sense. It's interpreting a poem, not solving a math equation. Contradicting Perrine, I feel that poems can have different meanings, but math equations have just one answer. I do agree, though, that the most satisfactory interpretation "relies on the fewest assumptions not grounded in the poem." However, I feel that this statment makes shallow interpretations seem okay, instead of digging for something deep. I think it is kind of annoying how he goes through and matches plurality versus singularity, but it makes me think to do the same thing from now on. I think Perrine presents accurate points, but, at the same time, this article should not be a rubric for how our interpretations should be graded.

The Lives of the Dead

"Sitting there in the back seat, I wanted to find some way to let her know how I felt, a compliment of some sort, but all I could manage was a stupid comment about the cap. 'Jeez,' I must've said, 'what a cap'" (pg 217).

The final chapter was my favorite BY FAR! I wish Tim O'Brien would write a novel entirely about Linda. Their relationship is adorable and touching. He couldn't have ended the novel in a better way. This quote shows his youthful innocence. He has no idea why Linda is wearing that cap; all he knows is that he loves her and thinks she looks beautiful in it. I could have killed Nick Veenhof when he pulled her cap off. She's just a sick little girl that is trying to go on with life as best as possible, and he has to embarrass her like that. Considering he was a child and had no idea what he was doing makes it better, but I couldn't believe it. Then after she dies, Tim goes to sleep just so he can be with her! It's precious. That is something that could honestly make me cry. All in all, I liked "The Things They Carried" so much more than "The Sun Also Rises." Kudos O'Brien! Try again Hemingway!

Night Life

"The next morning he shot himself. He took off his boots and socks, laid out his medical kit, doped himself up, and put a round through his foot. Nobody blamed him, Sanders said" (pg 212).

Once again, it is an example of the war getting to him. He comes up with the idea that the bugs are after him and even scratches himself until he scabs up. He can't sleep at night, because he thinks of human organs and his own insides. It's a disturbing thought. Everyone understands what he's going through, so when he shoots himself in the foot, nobody says anything. The lieutenant even says he'll vouch that it was an accident. It's part of that unity and the bond that has grown between their platoon. Rat Kiley was a good medic, but it was time for him to move on!

The Ghost Soldiers

"I didn't complain. In an odd way, though, there were times when I missed the adventure, even the danger, of the real war out in the boonies" (pg 183).



I feel like no matter how much you hate something or someone, if there is part of you that likes it in any way, you will miss it when it's gone. For instance, there's this really annoying boy at my work, and I hadn't seen him for awhile because he was in season for a sport, and I actually started to miss him being around. It's weird. I never would have guessed that would happen. And it seems like whenever my friends and I look back, we think about all the fun things we have done and we start to miss it. But when it is actually happening, we somewhat take it for granted. It sounds cliche, but it makes me think of the song "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw. Live every day to the fullest.

Field Trip

"Like coming over here. Some dumb thing happens a long time ago and you can't ever forget it" (pg 175).

This quote shows the ignorance and innocence of youth. I don't know if innocence makes sense, but I think it does partially. Kathleen is only ten years old and has no idea what her father has been through. She thinks it's "weird" that he thinks about it all the time, but who can blame him. He witnessed and took part in a lot of crazy things in Vietnam. It's a big part of his life. It makes me wonder if I don't know about something major in my parents life. It also makes me think about what my children will think about what I find important when I grow up.

In the Field

"Wasted in the waste" (pg 158).

It seems like some sort of figurative language, but it's the honest to God truth. As Azar so brutally put it, Kiowa was wasted in the waste. He was sucked under while sleeping, and no one was able to save him. It seems unreal. You've heard of people being taken under by quick sand, even that's rare. But you never hear of someone being engulfed into a big lake of feces... It is not only terribly sad, it's disgusting. I cannot imagine. He must've drowned, which means the liquid went into his lungs and every crevice and opening of his body. It could make me vomit.

Notes

"Eight months later he hanged himself" (pg 154).



I hate to say it, but I totally saw this coming. Norman Bowker drives around the lake by himself 11 times or more, retelling war stories in his head, imagining people's responses. He doesn't know how to live in the regular world anymore. It would have most benefited him to go back into the army, even if there is no war going on at the moment. It would make him feel like he had a purpose. He didn't even know how to interact with people anymore. It was as if he expected the world to have paused when he went into the army, and when he came back, he could press play and just jump back into his old world. Unfortunately, that's not how things work. Life goes on. His inability to cope with life after war allowed me to foreshadow him killing himself in the future.

Speaking of Courage

"On the lake side of the road, where real estate was most valuable, the house were handsome and set deep in, well kept and brightly painted, with docks jutting out into the lake, and boats moored and covered with canvas, and neat gardens, and sometimes even gardeners, and stone patios with barbecue spits and grills, and wooden shingles saying who lived where. On the other side of the road, to his left, the houses were also handsome, though less expensive and on smaller scale and with no docks or boats or gardeners" (pg 132).

In chapter 15, we are able to see little bit of the local color of Norman Bowker's hometown. We hear about the landscape of the town. One road is divided in half with one half being upper class and the other half being more middle class. It's crazy how on literally the same road, things can be so different. I mean I guess it's not that different, but there are definitely noticeable distinctions between each side. It makes me wonder if the people got along on both sides, or if the people on the wealthier side thought they were better. It makes me curious. I have never witnessed a road like this. Although my pictures probably don't accurately depict the road at all, this is how I imagine it.

Ambush

"It was entirely automatic. I did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy; I did not ponder issues of morality or politics or military duty" (pg 126).

Killing is part of the job description when it comes to being a soldier in a war. Everyone knows that. O'Brien's dialect makes it even more real. It's not that you hate the other person, it's just your duty as a soldier to kill the "enemy." I can't speak from experience, because obviously I don't have any, but it probably would become something like a reflex. There's no time to think; he must obey his obligation to our country. I don't think I could ever be a soldier for that reason. It takes great courage and self control to be a soldier, and I don't think I could handle it. That's why we love our soldiers!

The Man I Killed

"You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down--you want that? I mean, be honest" (Pg 120).



Kiowa was just trying to make O'Brien feel better by saying this, but when it comes down to it, it's a really hard concept to think about. You're in a war and you kill a man. That's kind of what war's all about, right? Well I would be with O'Brien on this one. I would feel terrible killing another human being under almost any condition, even if I'm fighting in a war. Kiowa was trying to use rhetoric I believe. He wanted to persuade him that he did the right thing.Would you rather die fighting for your country or kill someone fighting for your country. Either way it sucks. Either you live knowing that you ended someone's life. (Who knows who that person was, what accomplishments they may achieve, or who their family is at home.) Or you die. Which one would you chose?

Church

"Though they were kind to all of us, they monks took a special liking for Henry Dobbins. 'Soldier Jesus,' they'd say, 'good soldier Jesus'" (pg 114).

I hate to say it, but even though it's wrong to pick favorites, everyone does it. Even MONKS! Reminds me of a teacher's pet. Although it was a very long time ago, I was indeed the teacher's pet in the first grade! Good times... Anyways, it's sad to say, but people even pick favorite's in families: favorite aunt, favorite cousin, favorite sister, favorite nephew, etc. So the monks choose Dobbins. This special treatment makes him consider joining a monostary. I don't know if this is the Catholic church, or if it has the same concept, but he is the same guy that wears his girlfriend's pantyhose around his neck. In the Catholic church, you have to take a vow of chastity. So these two sides are contradicting. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but it is somewhat juxtaposing. It shows his love for a woman in one chapter, then his consideration of becoming a monk and secluding himself from women.

Stockings

"In August, he tripped a Bouncing Betty, which failed to detonate. And a week later he got caught in the open during a fierce little firefight, no cover at all, but he just slipped the pantyhose over his nose and breathed deep and let the magic do its work. It turned us into a platoon of believers. You don't dispute facts" (pg 112).

As Michael Scott would say, "I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious." Therefore, I would become a believer too. You really can't fight facts. I think it would be awesome if Henry Dobbins' girlfriend's pantyhose did have magical powers. It goes against science and whatnot, but hey, if it works, it works. I have had good luck charms in my life, and I truly believe that they have helped me. The pantyhose are like a symbol of safety and comfort. They make him feel like he has a reason to live for. I bet every man in that platoon wishes he had a pair of his girlfriend's pantyhose to keep him safe in battle. Who wouldn't want that? (;

Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

"From the sixth grade on they had known for a fact that someday they would be married, and live in a fine gingerbread house near Lake Erie, and have three healthy yellow-haired children, and grow old together, and no doubt die in each other's arms and be buried in the same walnut casket" (pg 90).

What a great feeling that would be to feel like you have found your soulmate. This is "The Notebook" material, dying in each other's arms- how delightful! Sadly, everything has to come to an end. For Mark Fossie it ended awfully. At first, his princess gets off the helicopter and they spend every waking second together extending their fairy tale life. But eventually, she begins learning things; you can't be in the place of war and not change at all. Mary Anne changed for the worst. She got caught up in the war, and she wanted to be part of it. She found the Green Berets and she decided that was her calling. I feel bad for old Mark. He never thought that would happen when he brought his lady to the war.

The Dentist

"When Curt Lemon was killed, I found it hard to mourn" (pg 82).

I empathize with O'Brien here. I'm not a very emotional person, so I hardly ever cry. I'll think things are sad, but it takes A LOT for me to actually produce tears. I'll even want to cry to show that I am feeling something, but sometimes I just can't. At my best friend's cousin's funeral I only shed a few tears, even though it killed me to see her family going through this pain. Their house is literally my home away from home. I am there probably just as much as I am at my own house. I understand that O'Brien was not the fondest of Curt Lemon, but if a soldier in your brigade dies, it seems like you would feel really bad about it. He wanted to show remourse, but he just can't. I feel him there.

How to Tell a True War Story

"War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because was is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead" (pg 76).

This quote really stood out to me, because I think it is extremely true. Not only about war, but about life. The use of oxymoron after oxymoron gets the point across well. "War is nasty; war is fun." This part reminds me of the "shit field," which is disgusting beyond belief. It also makes me think of their stories. The soldiers love listening to each others stories while partying. "War is thrilling; war is drudgery." O'Brien later speaks of how he misses the action of the war and being part of the unit and the special bond that they share. He also talks about how miserable his pain in his butt is and how he can't sleep on his back anymore. "War makes you a man; war makes you dead." I have never heard war described so accurately before in my life. The valor of fighting for one's country makes one a man, but in the actual fighting, this man may be killed.

Friends

"Dave Jenson and Lee Strunk did not become instant buddies, but they did learn to trust each other" (pg 62).

I find this comical, because I totally understand this. This is a dumb example, but when my ex boyfriend started dating another girl, naturally, I hated her. We had a secret hate for each other, and did little things to show it. Petty, I know! But whatever; it happens to the best of us. In the end, he screwed her over too, so we both hated him. And we created a bond from that. We had a lot more in common than we thought. I mean it's not surprising that he would like similar girls, but we became friends. Sometimes people need to just stop worrying about stupid things on the surface, and eventually look deeper at more important things.

Enemies

"Something must've snapped. One afternoon he began firing his weapon into the air, yelling Strunk's name, just firing and yelling, and it didn't stop until he'd rattled off an entire magazine of ammunition" (pg 60).

The mood of this chapter is so intense that I feel like I am there. I feel like I can totally relate to the anger that he was feeling. Sometimes emotions are like a ticking bomb; eventually, they're going to explode. One can only keep things inside for so long, before they completely go crazy. I have witnessed this happen before in a different way. My friend kept having awful things happen to her, but she stayed strong and never let her pain show. Until one night we were sitting in my room, and she just started bawling uncontrollably. There was nothing I could do or say to make her stop. She just kept rambling on about everything. I was almost afraid to do anything just like O'Brien said their platoon didn't want to stop him. Sometimes you just have to let people go.

On The Rainy River

"It was my view then, and still is, that you don't make war without knowing why" (pg 38).



Growing up in a house where my mother despises war and would never in a million years let my only brother go into the army, I completely agree with this statement. Why go to war if there is not an absolute reason? A misunderstanding is not good enough. It is not fair to take innocent young boys and make them fight in a war. That is why I am glad there hasn't been in a draft for so long. I cannot imagine my classmates being shipped of to Afghanistan and Iraq to fight for our country. I feel like if they don't do it themselves, then how are they supposed to have any motivation to fight. The only motivation they would have would be the desire to win. Someone who willingly signs up to join the army, in my opinion, would be 10x better suited to help win. It should be a personal decision for the man, not something that is forced upon one.

Spin

"On occasion the war was like a ping pong ball" (pg 31).

In every way possible this quote reminded me of Forrest Gump. First of all, because Forrest was an amazing ping pong player. It brought me to the time in the film where all of the soldiers were watching him in amazement. Then to the time when he became a world famous ping pong champion. Secondly, because he was a soldier. And last but not least, because the sentence is a simile. Although this simile doesn't compare to Forrest Gump's famous "Life is like a box of chocolates...," it is still an accurate description of war from what I can infer after reading thus far. It shows how you can look at the war in multiple ways. One could look at it as dreadful, or one could think of all of the fun things they did on the side, or the glory one felt after a victory. I am going to go ahead and mix these two lines and say life is like a ping pong ball. You can be upset with different outcomes, or you can be positive. Look at the glass half full, instead of empty some may say.

Love

"Maybe she'll read it and come begging. There's always hope, right?" (pg 28). Jimmy Cross


Jimmy Cross's love for Martha is completely evident within the first two chapters. I find this somewhat heart-breaking actually, because it reminds me of my friend and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend decided to go into the navy for the next four years, but he wanted to stay together. He was basically asking her to wait for him for and kind of put her life on pause- that's how I took it anyways. He said that even if she broke up with him, when he finished serving his four years, he was going to find her, just to see if she still had the same feelings for him. She was head-over-heals in love with this boy and it was still a hard decision as to whether she should stay with him or if it would be better to break up. I always thought that it would be sad if they broke up, because I knew that she would constantly be on his mind no matter what. This book further increased my suspicion of that happening. Martha seems to only consider Jimmy as a companion, but he takes whatever he can get. He pretends that when she sign's with love that she is actually in love with him. This struggle is like a never ending internal conflict, when he's not fighting, he is thinking about Martha. It makes me feel terrible for the soldiers that have no one waiting for them at home.

The Things They Carried

"Among the necessities or near-necessites were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between 12 and 18 pounds, depending upon a man's habits or rate of metabolism" (pg 2).



As I began reading this book, the first chapter made me believe that it was just going to be fact after fact. I was afraid that there would be no storyline like "Ship Ablaze" and the other fictional novels we had to read in Mrs. Helbing's U.S. History class last year. But, at the same time, the great imagery helped me understand what was physically weighing the soldiers down. I had never really though about how they constantly had to carry everything they needed with them at all times, because at any second they could be moving to another location. It helped me appreciate the fact that I have the option to carry whatever I want with me at all times, and if I needed something I can easily just get it later. Another thing that stuck out to me was the exact measurement each item weighed, and how it was considered silly to bring a letter or something, simply because it would be unnecessary weight. This is actually a quite sad concept in my opinion. I never think about how much something weighs before I throw it in my purse, I just go. Unfortunately, the soldiers cannot be so carefree.

Resolution

"That was it. Send a girl off with one man. Introduce her to another to go off with him. Now go and bring her back. And sign the wire with love. That was it alright" (pg 243).

I feel like the main problem in this book was never solved. Barnes would still do anything for Brett even though she gives nothing to him in return. We never found out exactly why they couldn't be together in the first place. His impotency?? If so, she is very shallow- no surprise! I feel as though the only character who made any progress in his life was Robert Cohn. He was a fool in love, but he finally manned up and decided he had to leave. Therefore, he is a dynamic character, because he was able to change for the better. The rest of the characters stayed pretty much the same throughout the novel, making them static characters. Although they are categorized as static characters, some of them were round characters. Take for example: Jacob Barnes; we were able to see many different feelings and personality traits he possessed. I feel like this storyline is kind of jumpy, and I am still not sure what the climax is. Hopefully, when we discuss the novel in class, I will be able to get a better understanding.